The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that 20 soldiers had been killed by “friendly fire” in the Gaza Strip since ground battles began there in late October.
Israeli Army Radio said that the number of soldiers killed by friendly fire in the Gaza battles represents one-fifth of the number of soldiers killed during the ground operation, whose number the army announced had risen to 111, including officers and soldiers.
The radio quoted the army as saying that 13 soldiers were killed by its forces’ fire after they were mistakenly identified as Palestinian militants. It explained that some of them were wounded by air fire, some by tank fire, and some by infantry soldiers’ fire.
It revealed that one of the soldiers was killed as a result of a stray bullet fired by Israeli soldiers without intending to hit him. Two soldiers were also killed as a result of ramming accidents with tanks and armored personnel carriers. Two soldiers were killed as a result of machine gun fire on the back of a tank, and two others were killed by fragments of army ammunition.
According to the radio, the Israeli army said that the number of casualties was due to a variety of reasons, including the huge number of forces in the field, the duration and nature of the fighting, fatigue, lack of operational discipline, lack of coordination between forces, and other reasons.
He added that operational incidents and bilateral shooting incidents are events that should have been avoided in the vast majority.
Thus, the total number of deaths in the Israeli army is 435 officers and soldiers since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority.
